After having a week of rest, Rutgers Football is set to hit the road to take on No.1 Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus.
It cannot be a more daunting task for the Scarlet Knights, as they have to take on the supposed best team in the country in their home stadium. The Buckeyes have a 96.9 percent chance of winning, according to ESPN’s matchup predictor, with sports betting companies like FanDuel opening the spread at 30 points for this game.
Ohio State has no true weak point that Rutgers can take advantage
of. Sure, they have parts of their team that are not playing as well as others, but they lack one area that disproportionately falls behind the rest of the team. No matter how it is sliced, they have a great defense, a consistent and potent passing attack, a good run game, and they are solid on special teams.
If there are a few things about this game that float the Knights’ way, it’s the fact that Ohio State wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are not a lock to play on Saturday, and that Buckeye quarterback Julian Sayin isn’t very a very mobile runner. Both Smith and Tate are two of the best players at their position across all of college football. Tate was not on the field for the Buckeyes’ game against Purdue or UCLA, while Smith has had a nagging injury that could leave him sidelined for this game.
Rutgers has had an issue all season dealing with mobile quarterbacks, so the fact that Sayin isn’t much of a runner does help the defense out. So far this season, Sayin has 27 rushes for 20 yards and no touchdowns.
Even with these conditions placed on Ohio State, the talent level still tilts heavily in their favor. The Knights will have to have used the bye week perfectly to prepare, and will need to have the game of their lives to have a chance to pull off the win.
A few things to look for on the Rutgers side of things are the improvements the defense made during the bye week. Even though they might not matter in this game, if the Knights can get on the same page defensively, that could be a big benefit for the last game of the season. If Rutgers defenders know their proper assignment in this game and don’t leave receivers completely uncovered, that could inspire some confidence heading into a likely winner-take-all game against Penn State. That has been an issue for a large part of the year, but a bye week provides the perfect opportunity to remedy that.
Another thing to look out for in this game is injuries. Hopefully, the Knights will be able to leave this game as healthy as possible.
The game in Columbus is set for a noon kickoff. Live coverage for the game is being provided by FOX.
